The Critical Blow
by julzaibatsu
Summary: It took Mia a moment to realise who had taken the critical blow meant for her.


Lucia didn't need to be hinted to take out those archers. But to her alarm, Boyd was right; there were heaps of them. Some were obscured from her vision by the thick of armoured knights. There were so many of the golden warriors running in her direction, getting in her way. No matter how fast she was, they just kept blocking her sight of path towards the dreaded archers that could well mark the death of her queen.

Not daring to make a panicked yell or to let fear of loss consume her mind, Lucia attempted to locate her queen. That was the best thing she could do now; spot the majestic Pegasi in the room, run towards it and remain by its side, ready to defend an oncoming arrow that if not blocked, could well mean her queen's demise.

In Lucia's job, in her fighting, there was no room for error. Every mistake in her life she had made so far had come with a mighty consequence. The first had been being ignorant of Elincia's feelings. She would never forget the hurt in those brown eyes as she told her they had to leave Geoffrey behind. Lucia, no matter that she was okay with walking away from disheveled relationships for the good of her life and her country, could_ never_ walk away from Elincia, to whom was the only real personal issue for her, Geoffrey aside.

_For she answered only to her._

Soon enough, she spotted the Pegasi she'd been looking for. It was in the top corner of their half of the room, near the blue shield in where Ike and the Black Knight duelled. Lucia was ever so thankful for Elincia's wisdom; she was clearly staying in that corner away from the many threatening archers at the front end of this room. There was far too many for her to approach. The white lady could breathe in relief.

But then, the sudden shine of a blade caught her eye.

Lucia swiftly turned her head to find Mia fighting off a heavy armoured soldier with some trouble. She could see the young girl flinch from the impact of the heavy silver axe; the struggle it took her to push it off afterwards. Lucia empathised with her. Armoured soldiers were always such a pain for her, with their mighty brute strength and the armour that protected their body. Their armour didn't leave her many openings, no matter how precise with the blade she knew herself to be. Lucia tried to avoid them at all costs; picking on easier targets such as non-lance users and warriors _(though she was mindful of them too; seeing Boyd smash right through the armour of a marshal was more than enough indication as to why)._

But what she saw next looked like slow motion in her open right eye.

She spotted a lone swordmaster weaving through the armoured crowd. He had a Killing Edge in his hand, a dreaded curved blade known for cutting deep and dealing critical damage to their enemies. Following his trail, she found to her alarm he had his eyes set on Mia, who was still struggling fighting off the armoured marshal. It was clear the swordmaster was going to take advantage of her current situation with the armoured knight.

Lucia sprung forward into action, running across the room, weaving and even jumping past the sea of golden warriors blocking her path. She had to stop that swordmaster or Mia would get seriously injured, or worse! But it was only getting harder to reach her, as two archers saw her desperation and fired at her. Lucia cursed as she was forced to evade the arrows by jumping to the side. She didn't have time for them now; she had to get to Mia. That swordmaster was only metres away from her now!

After turning forth from evading the arrows, she found herself close to Mia. But by now, the swordmaster was close, too close for her to stop that Killing Edge from finding Mia's flesh.

A dreadful feeling sank on Lucia's heart, knowing what she was about to do.

_Forgive me, Elincia…  
_

* * *

A sense of relief hit Mia as the Wo Dao finally whittled away the knight's armour and found an opening in his stomach. With two hands on the Wo Dao, she thrust her sword deep into his torso, before she heard the death gargle she needed to hear and watched him collapse.

"_Stars above, they're so much harder than I last fought them…" _Mia thought in disbelief. She should've expected this though. This was Ashera's home. Of course her best and finest disciples would be the ones to fight Yune's chosen ones.

A charging cry snapped the mercenary girl out of her thought trail. Her eyes widened in terror as she saw a gold swordsmaster come right at her, a dreaded Killing Edge in his hand.

_"No! He's too close for me to block it!" _Mia thought, her heart racing with panic and her head throbbing from the blood pressure that rose with it. She'd been too careless and unaware of her surroundings to see him and now, she was going to die because of it. Mia couldn't close her eyes, stricken in fear with the knowledge her body would soon turn cold and lifeless.

But the feeling never came…

Right before her eyes, the ruffle of white robes filled her vision. The Killing Edge, raised high in the air by the golden disciple, swerved a clean, diagonal slash. Mia's face was sprayed with warm blood of the woman before her, her ears surrounded with the sickening sound of the sword cutting through her flesh.

It took Mia a moment to realise who had taken the critical blow meant for her.

_"LUCIA!"  
_

* * *

Lucia felt the warmth of her own blood fall upon her skin, along with the searing pain sent through her body. Mia's scream behind her sounded like a siren in her dulled ears, as was her short cry from the pain. Laevateinn slipped from her hand as her body went limp and numb, clattering on the stone cold blue floor. Then, her body was awoken by the shock of the rough, hard stone floor she crashed down on, sending excruciating pain through her head.

Mia panted hard, her eyes wide in shock and terror. She looked up to the gold swordmaster, looking stunned at the reckless, defensive move. The utmost anger and hatred rose within Mia which conjured into a heartfelt scream from her lungs. The gold disciple didn't even have time to react before the Wo Dao found itself lodged in his stomach. Letting out a second enraged cry, Mia pulled out the Wo Dao and stabbed him through a second and final time, twisting it to ensure his death. With a final pained growl, the disciple stumbled backwards and fell on the ground with a deserving death.

Mia turned around, sheathing her sword as she ran backwards to Lucia. She lifted her up, arms wrapped around her chest and pulled her across the floor from the battlefield as remote and fast as she could. Eventually, she reached far to the back of the room, leaning Lucia up against a wall and supporting her with one arm still around her waist. Mia desperately scanned the scene before her, looking for someone to help. Fortunately enough, Nephenee was fighting nearby.

"Neph! Nephenee! Look over here!" Mia yelled out to her. The country girl looked over and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Miss Lucia?!"

"Find Queen Elincia! _Now!_" Mia cried, tears beginning to brim out of her eyes. The country girl nodded, running off without a second thought.

Lucia knew she had to control her breathing. It was one way she learned that helped keep her alive longer. She took deep shuddered breaths, making sure to take in as much air as she could, no matter that it was cold and musty here in the Tower of Guidance. She felt one hand grip her right shoulder. Lucia opened her eyes to see Mia's distraught face, tears brimming in her eyes.

"_Why?_!" she wailed, shaking her lightly, "Why did you save me?! Why?! I should be like this! Not you! Why?!"

Lucia weakly smiled at her.

"Don't you remember what I said to you that night, Mia?" she strained her voice to speak through her deep breathing.

"Yes! Yes I do! They're Disciples of Order who are maniacs bent on killing us! W-why wasn't I aware of that swordmaster?! Why! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I failed I…" the tears would not stop streaming from her cheeks. Mia let out small sobs, cursing that the onetime bad luck would hit her would be now and not inflicted on her physically.

"No, Mia…you were fine. You were doing it right…" in a sudden move, she reached her hand to grasp Mia's own. Lucia maintained her smile, no matter the pain. She had to reassure her everything was going to be all right…even though she didn't know if she was going to live right now.

"Then why…?" Mia didn't dare to take her dark blue orbs off Lucia's ice-blue.

"That swordmaster decided to take advantage of the position you were in…he was waiting for you to finish that battle with the general…so he went for you. I saw him and tried to get to you…but soldiers got in the way. By the time I reached you, there was only one way…to stop him…" as Lucia finished explaining, she closed her eyes to concentrate on staying conscious, which was getting harder with feeling the blood drain her body of energy.

As Mia heard her speak, she suddenly remembered the last part of the sentence Lucia had said to her about the Disciples of Order.

"_They won't be protecting anyone like we will be." _

"Y-you…you shielded me, you…you protected me…you…" Mia felt so pathetic. What was she to Lucia? Why would she ever give her life to protect her, when she had a queen to do that for? When she had a queen _to live for_?

"You're too young to die, Mia. You can't die…not at the age you're at. You're young, free-spirited and you've not made a mistake…" the last words of Lucia's sentence were spoken with a sad tone and smile to go with it.

"I'm the one who makes mistakes...not you…"

"No! No no no! That's not true! You don't always make the mistakes! You don't! No…never…" Mia couldn't take this anymore. Her head fell upon Lucia's shoulder, burying her sobs within it. Lucia wrapped an arm around her waist, gazing down on her sadly.

"Don't cry…"

"_Lucia!"_ she heard her queen cry out her name in panic. From hearing deep flapping wings, Mia looked up to see the Queen of Crimea land her Pegasi on the floor, her hooves clopping as they landed. Nephenee hadn't come back with her; obviously she'd returned to the fight. Elincia got off the magnificent animal, bearing a Recover staff in her hands as she bent down beside her fallen lady knight.

"W-what happened…" she stammered, turning pale with fright.

What could she say to her? What could Mia say to the Crimean Queen, Lucia's closest friend and confidante? How could she tell her that her knight had rushed in and defended a blow that was meant _for her_?

"It was a Killing Edge…t-the swordmaster, he-"

"Caught me off guard…" Mia whipped her head to Lucia who interrupted her. Lucia stared at Elincia with guilt-ridden eyes.

"I'm sorry…"

Elincia slowly nodded in understanding, holding the Recover staff over her. The wound began to slowly close, Elincia's eyes intensely focused on the wound. Mia stared at Lucia in disbelief that she'd covered her like that; but Lucia simply grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly, giving her a knowing smile.

"I'll be all right…"

Mia bowed her head and shed her final tears.

* * *

**I wrote this when my friends on Skype chat decided to have a 20 minute word war a while back. I don't know why I didn't go through and edit it to be published before. It's pretty much a short sequel to Heart of the Sword. I knew I wanted to do something that would really bring out this rival friendship; of course the one way to do it is by Lucia nearly dying protecting her. She's a knight in service of her country after all; trained to be ready to sacrifice for her people and the royal family after all 3. Feel free to send your thoughts and feedback _(not constructive criticism though; I feel that's too harsh a word and thing for any writer really. Improving only helps with positiveness about it after all)_. **

**Regards,**  
_Tireless Advisor_


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